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Tele-rehabilitation for Women With Urinary Incontinence
Sponsor: University of Patras
Summary
The prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) in the female Greek population is 1 to 3 women (27%).Globally, the development of tele-rehabilitation programs through mobile application (mobile apps) has been a breakthrough for UI treatment. More specifically, the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) exercise programs through mobile apps, provide optimal health care services by offering to the patients a therapy program in the convenient environment of their choice (e.g their homes), with safety and less expense. Furthermore, it is given the opportunity to patients with mobility problems or with lack of transport or to them who live in remote areas, to treat their incontinence. However, the majority of the existence mobile apps, work as simple verbal instructions and they do not being tailored in patients' individual needs, which is necessary for the successful implementation of the PFM exercise programs. Additionally, the PFM training is effective for UI treatment, when occurs intensively (daily) with supervision for at least 3 months by a physiotherapist. However, the adherence to a such intensive treatment program is very often compromised, because of many reasons (e.g lack of interest etc). Therefore the main purpose of the current study is, to investigate the effectiveness of a tele-rehabilitation program, through a novel, innovative mobile app (customized in patients needs), in cooperation with a PFM superficial sensor. The mobile app will offer an interactive environment and the opportunity of a simultaneous supervision by a physiotherapist during the treatment, which might provide sufficient motivation to the patient to adhere with the intensive PFM exercise program. A secondary objective of the study is, to investigate the degree of adherence to PFM exercises and the degree of supervision, which is needed in the tele-rehabilitation program. Both the mobile app and the PFM superficial sensor, will be created for the needs of the present study.
Official title: The Effectiveness of a Tele-rehabilitation Program Implemented in a Greek Clinical Setting for Women With Urinary Incontinence: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Key Details
Gender
FEMALE
Age Range
18 Years - 75 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
60
Start Date
2024-11-01
Completion Date
2026-12-30
Last Updated
2025-02-19
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
PFM exercises program through the Mobile app in cooperation with the superficial sensor
The mobile app will offer a personalized progressive protocol to the user based on his needs, via 12 levels of games(from the easiest to the hardest).The cooperating PFM superficial sensor will indicate the activity of the PFMs during the contraction.Νο face-to-face meetings will be incurred between participants and therapist. Participants will follow a program for 12 weeks(3 times weekly, 1-5 sessions daily, each session's duration approximately 20 minutes).Endurance training will involve slow velocity contraction and speed training will involve quick (i.e.1 sec duration) strong contractions."Knack maneuver" training will contain a pre-contraction before the increment of the intra-abdominal pressure during coughing. The exercise positions will change every 2 weeks (supine, side, prone, quadruped support, sitting and standing position).
Face-to face PFM exercises program in Healthcare environment
The therapy will include face-to-face meetings weekly, regarding the progress of the treatment and its smooth transition (intra-vaginally assessment when it needs, correction, encouragement, motivation, etc). Participants will follow a personalized progressive PFM exercise program for 12 weeks (3 times weekly, 1-5 sessions daily, each session's duration approximately 20 minutes).The endurance training will involve slow velocity contraction and the speed training will involve quick (i.e.1 sec duration) strong contractions. The "Knack maneuver" training will contain a pre-contraction before the increment of the intra-abdominal pressure during coughing. The exercise positions will change every 2 weeks.It will be followed the order of supine, side, prone, quadruped support, sitting and standing position
PFM exercises program via home-leaflet(without suprevision)
The participants of the CG will be advised to follow a personalized PFM exercise program at home based on their 1st meeting assessment. They will receive a comprehensive leaflet, with instructions and images about the PFM exercises at home. The PFM exercise program will last 12 weeks (3 times weekly, 1-5 sessions daily), without meetings, guidance and supervision by the physiotherapist. Similarly to the other two intervention groups, the program will contain endurance training (slow velocity contraction), speed training (quick contractions), "Knack maneuver" training (pre-contraction before coughing), and changing positions every 2 weeks (supine, side, prone, quadruped support, sitting and standing position)
Locations (1)
Laboratory of Clinical Rehabilitation and Research (CPRlab), University of Patras
Pátrai, Achaia, Greece